Jack Thompson takes it out on Counter-Strike

[wraggster]

Jack Thompson has given a TV interview in the US where he points the finger of blame at the hugely popular online tactical shooter, Counter-Strike, and that the game helped train Cho Seung-Hui to kill 33 fellow students in Virginia.

Thompson begins the interview with MSNBC by quoting the Washington Post as reporting that Hui's associates and colleagues said he was "immersed incredibly" in the game Counter-Strike.

He then says Cho Seung-Hui was "able to go from room to room very calmly, efficiently, coolly killing people".

According to Thompson he was able to do this because he had trained on Counter-Strike. But rather than another TV station giving the US lawyer five minutes to throw his unproven theories and ideas into the world, MSNBC presenter picks him up on almost everything he says.

via cvg (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=162315)

[benn]

why do you even post anything related to this guy? whilst you post it, he gets his coverage.
just sign a mass deal amongst all video game sites to ignore ALL JT posts.
.

[Cap'n 1time]

As much as I love it when this silly game gets ridiculed... well I hate JT more.

[ryan2006]

jt is quite clearly a asshole and you cant blame a video game for that terrible crime commited i also heard an interview on the new saying more ppl should carry guns in america to prevent things like this which i think is insane

[jmendes]

another shit smelling opinion from a certified DUMBASS
unbelievable....

[lolmasta]

How can you be trained by clicking and pressin buttons?

[Chuthbert]

why do you even post anything related to this guy? whilst you post it, he gets his coverage.
just sign a mass deal amongst all video game sites to ignore ALL JT posts.
.
I agree so much. This is only giving him the attention he wants. Seriously, I don't care what this arsehole thinks. I already know he's a moron, I don't want to be reminded of his existence whenever I check some game news.

Stop posting about this dumbass. Please. It's not news.

[emuking]

well you stop posting news about IT please!

[iniquitous_beast]

That was a good clip. It is nice to see that not everybody in the news media immediately buys into Jack's BS.

As for posting JT news here- why not? It makes for juicy news. Also, it is important to be aware of what the gaming industry's biggest nemesis is saying.

[Thanatos 2.0]

The real problem in the states is not the video games its the fact he got a fricken gun so easily, Of all the leagally owned guns (600,000 estimated) the amount of those is 1/3 in the states alone thats 250,000 legally owned guns inside the states.

They need some gun control in there so not everyone carrys a gun with him its just asking for crime to happen

[kcajblue]

i dont even play counter strike and i could do the same as what cho did. not saying i am just saying i could. all of us could. you cant get shooting skills from playing video games. the controls are completely different from how you would use a real gun.

[Psyberjock]

That was a good clip. It is nice to see that not everybody in the news media immediately buys into Jack's BS.

As for posting JT news here- why not? It makes for juicy news. Also, it is important to be aware of what the gaming industry's biggest nemesis is saying.

I agree. If you actually watch the clip, he get's reamed and it's great. He's such a douche and he's obviously only in it for the money. As much as I despise the guy, keep the news coming. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.


The real problem in the states is not the video games its the fact he got a fricken gun so easily, Of all the leagally owned guns (600,000 estimated) the amount of those is 1/3 in the states alone thats 250,000 legally owned guns inside the states.

They need some gun control in there so not everyone carrys a gun with him its just asking for crime to happen

Wow. I'm torn on this issue. I'm from Texas but I live in Japan. That's pretty much both extremes.

While gun control is good for ordinary run of the mill crimes of passion, organized crime and psychotic crimes tend to find ways to get guns regardless of the laws. Ordinary citizens who flip out are the only ones who would be positively affected by tighter gun laws. And even still they will find ways to kill people, just not as many at one time.

Just a couple of weeks ago here in Japan a crazy kid killed his English teacher who came to his house to teach him. I'm sure he didn't have a gun. Occasionally you see on the news where some yakuza runs out and shoots some windows out of businesses as a way of proving himself.

At the same time, getting rid of guns prevents people from enjoying their hobbies which can be harmless if properly conducted. From collecting antiques to game hunting and everywhere in between. Guns are ok. They're not bad. People are bad and they use guns to do their dirty work. It's a lot like weed or mushrooms. They're just plants. They're not bad. It depends on how you use them. There really is no inherent evil in non sentient things.

Is it worth preventing law abiding citizens from enjoying their hobbies? Maybe. Japan is pretty damn safe. I can't say I wish there were guns here. But is that because of the lack of guns or is it because of the nature of the society? Here, bullied kids kill themselves. Not others. That's different.

It's not any one problem, so any one solution probably isn't going to be enough.

EDIT: What happens if you get rid of all the guns but someone is still hell bent on killing lots of people. So instead of killing 30 with some guns they go to the hardware store and buy the ingredients for a bomb and kill 300? Plans for bombs are way easier to get than guns. Again, the psychotic will find a way.

[thenery]

This kid obviously had mental problems you don’t just shoot 33 people cuz of a game this guy is an asshole.

[shrimpidy]

The guy must've had extremely serious issues to do what he had done. In my experience, games like counter strike helped improve my awareness when I play paintball so it could certainly have, in a way, help him.

[kcajblue]

thats awareness in paintball.
he didnt need awareness for what he did.

[Basil Zero]

He-hey FREE POST LOL j/k


but seriously, i'm sick of hearing about this guy.

[mmochel]

The real problem in the states is not the video games its the fact he got a fricken gun so easily, Of all the leagally owned guns (600,000 estimated) the amount of those is 1/3 in the states alone thats 250,000 legally owned guns inside the states.

They need some gun control in there so not everyone carrys a gun with him its just asking for crime to happen

Lets think about this rationally for a minute.
There are millions of guns illegaly owned, and most gun crimes are comitted with illegal guns.
If we take every gun away from people who own them legally, then what happens when one of these nuts decides to go on a shooting rampage.
Is a criminal more likely to go to an area where he knows that noone else has a gun, if people had guns then the criminals would be less likely to try and shoot people.
That being said I have never owned a gun and have no intention of buying one, but I do not think we should limit them any more than we already have.

[Basil Zero]

trained to kill with RPG Maker - riiiiiiiiiight...

that was a quote from kotaku messageboards about the video

i LOL at it

[Welshboy]

If he was so fully immersed in counter strike he would have taken note of the hitboxes and shot about ooooooo 2 seconds before the target? this is ridiculous!!!!!! so....so many more games could enhance your weapon skills better than counter strike. Oh please......bureaucracy and red tape blah blah blah. On and on.......give it a rest.

[Psyberjock]

What about "America's Army"? You never hear of that game being blamed for being violent and realistic. The US Army made that game specifically for recruiting more soldiers to get out there and do REAL mass killing. It's basically a training tool. Why doesn't JT attack that game? Cause it goes against his republican agenda and would have him shunned by everyone in the Whitehouse. He wouldn't be "supporting the troops."

How's that for irony?

[ficksucker]

Lets think about this rationally for a minute.
There are millions of guns illegaly owned, and most gun crimes are comitted with illegal guns.
If we take every gun away from people who own them legally, then what happens when one of these nuts decides to go on a shooting rampage.
Is a criminal more likely to go to an area where he knows that noone else has a gun, if people had guns then the criminals would be less likely to try and shoot people.
That being said I have never owned a gun and have no intention of buying one, but I do not think we should limit them any more than we already have.

You bring up a good point, and I'm not a strong advocate either way. But let's take a case study of the Canadian city Vancouver BC and the nearby city Seattle. Seattle has more murders/100 000, but when you analyze what type of murders you find that Vancouver and Seattle have about the same rates of knifing, beating to death, etc. The entire difference in murder rates can be attributed entireley to shootings alone. They have almost identical rates of murder with every other weapon.

As for the video games violence connection, there is some evidence that violent games may increase violent behaviour, but not much more so then violent TV (if you know your stats, early estimates of the correlation are about 0.25 which is pretty low). If we consider TV acceptable then we can't be hypocrites and want bans against games. And if you use the same standard we should ban drinking too.

[benn]

ok I kinda get your post but think it has too many holes in it. i mean...



While gun control is good ... they will find ways to kill people, just not as many at one time.


surely that is a good thing right?


At the same time, getting rid of guns prevents people from enjoying their hobbies which can be harmless if properly conducted. From collecting antiques to game hunting and everywhere in between. Guns are ok. They're not bad. People are bad and they use guns to do their dirty work. It's a lot like weed or mushrooms. They're just plants. They're not bad. It depends on how you use them.


OK but guns have an undeniable connection with violence. Even if you just collect them, they are weapons of death. Designed to kill people. An increasing amount of people are not responsible enough to be in a passive environment with firearms.

Your example using drugs is the worst example for you but the best for me:
In a similar way to firearms, many people misuse weed, shrooms etc. It is PROVEN that these are gateway drugs and it is very rare for someone to only ever have smoked weed and not taken any other drugs. Drugs are made illegal under the pretense that by restricting supply and access, they are making it less likely that they will be in the hands of irresponsible people. The same laws should be applied to Guns.

It is purely a matter of maths:
presume 1 person in every 1000 is an idiot who will misuse a firearm.
restrict access or make them illegal and (for this example) lets say that only 25,000 people can 'easily' obtain a firearm. that means you only have to worry about 25 idiots.
with unrestricted access, let's say (again for this example) that the whole population of 50 million people can 'easily' obtain a firearm. You now have the potential for 50,000 idiot incidents.

i think that it would be impossible due to legacy issues, but America should ban firearms.

my background? i have indulged in everything above and WAY more. I think firing a gun is an amazing feeling, that someone who has never experienced will never understand. Similarly, I have had some of the most amazing experiences of my life on Class A drugs. BUT I recognize that there are people in society who cannot act responsibly with either of these so I have to suffer strict laws (living in UK).
Is it fair? NO.
Is it right? In my opinion, yes.

[Adrenalin]

But it's funny to see hear about his stupidity all the time. XD.

[dark heart]

He learnt how to kill people off a computer game?? lol, that has so many holes in it, it can be used as a cheese grater! ;)
plus mabye this will make them think twice about bearing arms in America, no such thing in Australia! :)